


Coming back

by bunnysworld



Series: Have a Camelot Christmas 2019 [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21683092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: Merlin comes back from a mission and dreads Christmas alone in his empty place.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Have a Camelot Christmas 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558780
Comments: 10
Kudos: 155





	Coming back

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of Have a Camelot Christmas 
> 
> Sorry for the delay, had internet issues.

Merlin tried not to trudge his feet. He hated airports on any given day. There were too many people, everyone was in a hurry and a lot of times people were plain rude. It was worse around Christmas. 

It hadn't been his idea to go on this trip this close to the holidays, but a magic emergency had happened right in the week before and they had sent him to help the special forces. It had been a long, hard fight and he had learned a lot more about the ancient magic of the area than he ever wanted to know. He needed to, the lives of people depended on him. As always after such a mission, he felt drained and questioned his purpose in life, so all he wanted to do was to get back home and curl up and sleep through Christmas. He had nowhere to go anyway. Being the most powerful sorcerer known to men was lonely business.

Of course he had friends, but they were all busy or not even here for the holidays, so it would be him and his favorite TV shows before he could muster the energy to write his report of the mission. 

Grabbing his huge backpack from the conveyor belt, Merlin thought of Arthur. For a while, he thought that they had something going, but the Pendragon family was known for their stance against magic, so this little flirt would go nowhere. Too bad. Merlin would have loved to come back to be greeted by Arthur, who asked how the mission had gone and he would tell him just enough to make him feel included and not enough to give any secrets away. They would have a nice dinner and cuddle up in front of the TV, a little Christmas tree in the corner giving off a warm light. 

Merlin blinked back to reality. It wasn't like that. They had flirted a lot at various Christmas parties and even shared a drunken kiss underneath some mistletoe, but that was it. Finding out that he had been gone on a magic mission, Arthur would surely never speak to him again. He sighed. Oh well, he couldn't change who he was, not even for a good-looking prat. 

Passing through the automatic doors that separated the luggage area from the public area, Merlin saw lots of people who waited for their loved ones and quite a few drivers who waited for clients. Nobody would ever wait for him. Hiring a driver wasn't in his travel allowances, so the tube it would be. 

When he passed the drivers, heading towards the Underground station, his eyes fell on a sign one of the drivers were holding. 

"M. Emrys." it said.

"Err...excuse me..." Merlin looked up. Instead of a driver in a dark suit and ridiculous cap, it was a tall, blond man who grinned widely. "Arthur?"

"Welcome back, Merlin."

Merlin blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well..." Arthur finally lowered the sign and looked a bit unsure. "When Gwen told me that you take the tube back after such a long trip and probably dangerous mission, I thought..." He shrugged. "My driver's waiting outside."

Long trip. Dangerous mission. It was both true, but he never told anyone about the details. So..."How do you know?"

"Hey, I have to go in the same direction anyway. Are you coming or are you going to share public transport with tons of other people?"

Merlin nodded. "Alright." His mind was spinning. "What..."

"Later." They reached the car and the driver hauled Merlin's backpack into the boot.

When they were seated, Merlin looked over. "Arthur..."

"If this isn't a 'thank you, Arthur, for sparing me the tiresome trip back home and coming all the way out to welcome me back', I'll seriously be offended." Arthur said, but a grin was tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

"Thank you, Arthur." Merlin echoed. He meant it, it was nice, all comfy and quiet. "But..."

"How do I know about your magic? You're not as subtle as you think you are and...that kiss? Magical!"

Was there a blush on Arthur's cheeks? There sure was one on Merlin's. "You don't mind?"

Arthur took a deep breath. "It's probably too early to say that, but...I would like to get to know you better. A lot better. So what if you're magic?" He shrugged. "Unless you mind that I'm not."

Merlin blinked. His tired brain tried to process.

"Gwen told me when your plane would come back and..." Arthur scratched the back of his neck. "I hope you don't mind that we kind of...did something to your place."

"Did something...?" Gwen had his keys for emergency. Sometimes she did nice things like running the dishes through the dishwasher or hang up the laundry he hadn't gotten around to when a call came that he had to leave. 

"I hope you'll like it."

They reached his house and even though he had asked "What? What did you do?" several times since the car had turned into his street, Arthur didn't say. So he turned the key with beating heart.

When he reached his little living room, Merlin stopped in his tracks and stared. There was a little Christmas tree in the corner with lots of fairy lights and beautifully decorated, candles on the window sill and other Christmassy things all around the room. The smell of freshly baked cookies was in the air and there was a styrofoam container sitting on the kitchen table.

"Arthur...what..?"

Arthur shuffled his feet. "Gwen said how much you like Christmas and how much you hate decorating just for yourself and having meals all by yourself."

"So...you dropped a Christmas bomb on my place?"

"You don't like it...I'm...I'll send someone to get everything back into its original state." The look on Arthur's face showed his disappointment. "Please do me a favour and don't toss dinner out. If you don't want it, share it with your neighbours or someone." 

"No!" Arthur couldn't go. He got it all wrong! "I love it! It's...it's just such a big surprise that you'd go through all this trouble to do this!"

The blush was back on Arthur's face. "I like making people happy for Christmas. But don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my reputation."

A huge smile spread on Merlin's face. "I was dreading to come back to a cold and empty place. Having to spend Christmas alone. And now..." He leaned in and kissed Arthur softly. 

"So...you like it?"

"Love it." Merlin pulled back. "What's for dinner?"


End file.
